Two Sides of Every Coin
by Corvus corone
Summary: Mikan and her daemon Koshi are searching for the answers - where is Hotaru? What is this school for Alices? What exactly is that underwear-stealing creep's problem? It's Gakuen Alice, but with one addition - daemons. Future N/M and all that jazz.
1. Chapter 1: Mikan

**Two Sides of Every Coin**

xox

Mikan and her daemon walked down the road. It was getting quite dark, and she was determined to find this 'Alice Academy' before night fell. She was _sure _it was on this street!

Still, there was no sign of it. Damn. Maybe she should just take a taxi. Again.

"Good idea - but didn't the last taxi driver say it was on this street?" whispered her daemon, Koshi. He was currently fluttering around her head in the form of a butterfly; upon Mikan looking up for him, he dropped onto her shoulder as a brightly-coloured parrot.

"Yeah, but we can't find it! Maybe that guy was an idiot," said Mikan. "Or just trying to trick us. Huh?"

Her daemon had sprung from her shoulder and seemed to be straining to see something - was that a gate in the distance?

"D'you think that's it?" he said.

"I bet it is!" she said, cheering up. She ran towards it. Unfortunately, she managed to fall over her feet as she did so and landed, winded, on the pavement opposite the said gate. Scrambling to her feet and wincing at her new bruises, she noticed two men ambling towards her.

"Are you trying to get into the Alice Academy?" the nearer one drawled.

"Yeah!" she said. "Oh hey, is that it?" she asked, ignoring Koshi's agitation. He never wanted to trust strangers! "Calm down," she mentally said to him. He glared.

"Yes, it is, but don't you know it's only for geniuses?" said the man. His daemon, a small brown rat-like creature, nodded in agreement.

"What? Yeah, of course I do! But my friend's in there, do you think they'll let me in for a visit?" Mikan said. Koshi rolled his eyes.

"Well... I don't know," said the second. "But we can help you, you know? If you come with us and into our Alice training school, you'll be sure to get in."

"_Really_? Oh wow, this is so cool! Please can you help me?" Koshi dug his parrot-claws into Mikan's shoulder and whispered, "You idiot, what has this got to do with Hotaru? These-"

He was interrupted in his Mikan-lecture by the first man putting an arm round Mikan's shoulders and saying, "Now, the entrance test may seem hard, but it's really very-"

And in turn, he was interrupted by someone else, a new voice from behind them that said, "Oh, and where exactly are you taking this girl?"

The men spun around. Mikan did so as well.

"I'm sorry, who the hell are you?" growled the second man. His dog-daemon snarled; the newcomer's bird-daemon grinned (if birds could grin) and snickered. Mikan was wide-eyed in surprise - she had never seen someone like this person!

"I'm a teacher at this Academy," said the ... person, with what Mikan would have recognised as a flirtatious smile if she had been a little older. (Mikan had to think, 'person' because she wasn't quite sure if he was a man or woman, though she was leaning towards the latter.) "And I really think it would be best if you let this girl go, hmm?"

"Let's go," muttered the first man to his friend. "Whoever this freak thinks he is, we need to get going be-"

"I really think it would be best," the so-called freak repeated. "Maybe you should go..." There was a change in his voice; Mikan couldn't quite tell what was happening or why the atmosphere had shifted so, but then the two men were running as fast as they could and Koshi looked impressed.

"What happened?" Mikan asked him, looking round for the other person.

"He touched them and they went. See, I told you we shouldn't have talked to them! We should go before this guy can screw up your brain too..."

No sooner had Koshi suggested that than the person said, "Are you alright?"

"What? I mean, yes, I'm fine! Who are you? Oh wait, if you're a teacher at the Academy then can you please let me in because my best friend is in there and I really need to-"

"Calm down," said the person's daemon. Mikan looked at her, a bright green bird with a red bib and beamed. Koshi turned himself into a matching lovebird and chattered at her.

"You should probably be going home," said the daemon's human, glancing at Koshi's antics. "It's not safe for you to be wandering around so late by yourself." And again there was that subtle change in the air that Mikan couldn't quite put her finger on; was it a new scent, or perhaps it was the not-quite-noticeable pressure around her?

She shook her head to clear herself and said, "No, I really have to find her! I came all the way to Tokyo and I can't go home because I don't have any money left..."

The person looked taken aback. The lovebird-daemon hopped onto his hand and peered closely at Mikan - she didn't notice, but Koshi did.

"Stop talking and be careful!" he whispered.

Mikan stopped. Then she started again, "So... do you know how I can get in?"

"Hmm... I think I do, actually," he said, smiling. The lovebird preened herself, watching Mikan closely. "I think you have a great talent, you know? You don't need to go to any training school - come with me, and I'll see what I can do to get you into the Academy. I think you'd be a great student there."

Mikan gasped. Then she pinched both her cheeks hard. Very, very hard. She squeaked in pain and Koshi said, "Idiot," in her thoughts. Nope, she still hadn't woken up. "_What_!? Really? You're not joking?"

"It's all true. Now, who were you looking for in there?"

"Hotaru Imai," said Mikan quickly, still pinching her left cheek and wincing at the pain. "She's been my bestest friend since we were four and we entered that dance show together and then she went to the Academy without telling me until the very last day and she never wrote to me! Even though I wrote two letters every day and posted them all every two weeks! Except once when she asked for some melons but... I don't know what's happened to her! And I really need to see her even if it's just for two seconds so I can tell her how much I miss her!"

Koshi sighed. The man looked amused, while his daemon was still staring at Mikan with an unreadable expression on her lovebird-face. "Well, I'm sure we can arrange something!" he said. He stood up, holding out a hand for her to take. She did so. "I'm Narumi-sensei, and I think I know the girl you're talking about. What's your name?"

"Mikan Sakura..." she said. "Hey..." she continued, seemingly puzzled by something, "Are you gay?"

There was a small silence in which the other three gave Mikan varying reactions of exasperated disbelief from Koshi, another amused snicker from the lovebird and a slightly stunned laugh from Narumi himself.

"Uh, not quite," he said. "I think we should get going, Mikan." He pulled her hand, and set off towards the gate.

xox

They had not gone far - two footsteps, in fact - when there was a blast. Not just any little hair-dryer type of blast, but an ear-splitting rumble and smash of boulders as the wall directly above them exploded. Mikan screamed, the sound slightly stifled by Koshi's fur as he turned into a bear to protect her - the lovebird squawked next to her ear, and Narumi was pulling her upright.

"Wha-" There was no time to say anything - Koshi batted a stray falling rock away from them - and growled, "Look up." She looked; was that a _person _on that ruined wall?

"Natsume Hyuga," said Narumi from behind her. She turned round, mouth open in shock, and saw Narumi with some kind of rope in his hand. "An elementary Academy student... I _thought _he was going to attempt an escape!" he said, smiling. "Get behind me."

Looking back at Natsume while running away, Mikan could see that the figure was smaller than she had thought. Even though she couldn't see his face, obscured as it was behind some sort of cat-mask, he might even have been the same age as her. She stopped moving, and hugged a rabbit-formed Koshi as she watched the boy drop expertly from the wall, a black shadow following his heels. She only just had time to see that his daemon was, in fact, a cat before there was another deafening crack and a cloud of dust.

"You hit him!" she gasped, looking at Narumi holding a rope - which had somehow extended to gargantuan proportions, but was now shrinking in his hand.

Narumi wasn't listening; he had stepped over to the fallen Natsume. Mikan peered after him. Was he okay? And there was a strange mask on his face - a cat mask? She winced as Narumi roughly stepped on the boy's hand, but her cry of protest was quickly cut off my the boy grunting in pain and Narumi speaking.

"Hey, don't use your Alice now... you'll only force me to use mine, you know?" Narumi said to him. Narumi's daemon snorted, and Natsume's cat-shaped one turned into a much larger, black panther-like creature before hissing at them both. "Not that I mind; it's actually rather fun, now that you mention it." He smiled, sighing as he did so - Mikan couldn't quite see what was happening, but in the next moment Natsume had slumped over and the panther had turned into a sleeping ferret. The cat mask had fallen to the floor; Narumi picked it up and looked at it with some interest.

"Er... what happened?" she said, looking anxiously at them.

"Routine arrangement," said Narumi cheerfully. He hoisted Natsume onto his shoulder and again held out his hand for Mikan, who took it with some trepidation. (This _was _the same person who had just knocked out a boy in front of her.) The lovebird poked the ferret with her beak before turning to Koshi and saying, "Do you mind taking the daemon?"

Koshi obliged by turning into a beagle and settling the ferret on his back. It was strange, Mikan thought, having your daemon touching another's while only being the barest of aquaintances, but she supposed it was much less awkward than Narumi or herself touching the boy's - Natsume's - daemon themselves. She was still thinking about this when Narumi stopped. They had passed through the gate without her even noticing - she was inside the Academy!

"And welcome to Alice Academy," said Narumi. Mikan could only stare in shock.

xox

It was so much bigger than she had imagined. No, it was so much bigger and better and grander and wealthier than she _could _have imagined. She was sitting in the "Entrance Hall", a term that she had only known as "a small dingy room in front of the headmistress's office". This Entrance Hall was the size of... well, the size of her school.

Okay, maybe not that big. But it was probably as expensive as her school. Or should that be her old school? She felt a small twinge of guilt when she remembered that Hotaru had left to keep that school open, and now she was leaving it too... probably. She still couldn't believe it. There was too much to believe.

She sighed. Thoughts of Narumi, various stories of what "evil men did to little girls and boys" danced in her head - she glanced at the still sleeping boy on the couch behind her and wondered if Hotaru had ever been knocked out. Or whipped. Or exploded. Or-

There was a deafening crash. Again. Mikan screamed, jumped up and started running - Koshi started and barked at the intrusion before accidentally tripping her up so that she landed - hard - on the ground.

"NARUMI WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BEAN WH-oh, he's not here," said a man, slamming the door open so hard that it knocked over a table, rebounded into his hand and was promptly slammed again into the wall. Or, rather than 'said', 'shouted so loudly that Mikan's eardrums had probably burst'. She was still whimpering when he noticed her, the growling Koshi and the unconscious Natsume in the corner.

"Who are you?" he said.

"Uh... Mikan Sakura, Narumi-sensei said that I was going to be a pupil at this school please don't hurt me!"

"Oh. Great," said the man. He turned and walked back towards the doorway. Mikan immediately jumped up and ran after him, grabbing his shirt.

"Don't go! Help me! What's happening and why did Narumi kill that boy and what's going to happen to me and is Hotaru okay?"

There was a pause while the man disentangled Mikan's hand from his shirt. "I doubt that Natsume's dead, however helpful that might have been. Just... sit here calmly until he comes back? At least, I hope he comes back. How very like him..."

Mikan's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, however, she sat back down anyway. Koshi jumped onto her lap as a rabbit and looked expectantly at both the humans. "But what did Narumi do to him?" said Mikan. "Are you sure he's not dead? Is Narumi a child molester? Or something? What _is _this place?! And who are you?"

"You're panicking," whispered Koshi in her head. She shook her head and calmed herself down by eating the cake that she had been carrying around for the last two hours. The man looked at her - disapprovingly, thought Koshi, and resolved to improve Mikan's manners in the future.

"Misaki-sensei. Probably your future Biology teacher, since you've been manhandled into this school." There was a small hiss; Mikan looked down in surprise, and saw that Misaki's daemon was a thin grey snake wrapped around his arm. Mikan moved back warily. Snakes were kind of creepy. "Narumi's Alice... do you know what an Alice is?" continued Misaki.

She shook her head.

"You really don't know anything about this place..." he muttered, before continuing with, "An Alice is like a special power, or a person with a special power. Like a magical talent, or ability. Do you understand?"

Mikan's eyes were wide - even Koshi looked interested. "What? Like magic? Omigosh, and I'm one of those special people and omigosh this is just like that manga I was reading yesterday this is so cool what's my Alice then?" She bounced up and down and grabbed Misaki's arm excitedly, forgetting for a moment that there was a possibly poisonous snake attatched to it. Now it was his turn to move back warily.

"Er... I don't know. You have to ask Narumi, since he's the one who thinks you should be here-"

"What's his Alice then? And yours? And Natsume who's sleeping over there are you sure he's okay?"

Misaki closed his eyes. Mikan watched him with anticipation. Hurry up! Koshi rolled his eyes at her, but she didn't care. "Oh come on, you must be interested in this too!" she said to him mentally.

"Narumi has the Alice of Human Pheromones. He can control people - by making them fall in love with him. An annoyingly stupid Alice to suit an annoyingly stupid person," he added. "With children, it's too strong for them and so they pass out like Natsume here."

"But but but he whipped him! And stomped on his hand! Does he do that to everyone?!"

"Pretty mu- no, forget I said that. I mean, Natsume probably needed it - if he had been caught by someone else, not Narumi, then he would get a much bigger punishment than simply a nap. Narumi was probably doing the right thing, covering for him."

"Right," said Mikan, not really understand but prepared just to go along with this. There was too much... "And this mask? It's kinda cute..." She held out the black cat mask that had previously been on Natsume's face.

Misaki sighed. "It's a Alice limiter. It's to punish Natsume so he can't use his powers, though I think he's too strong for something like that to hold him back."

"Oh. So what's your-"

There was a loud beep from Misaki's pocket, and he quickly pulled out some small electric device before saying, "Intruders in the greenhouse again! I have to go. If Natsume wakes up, press the emergency button."

Mikan barely had time to say, "Bye?" before he had run out the door. Why was everything happening so quickly?

xox

A few quiet minutes had passed and Mikan was looking nostalgically at her photo album. Hotaru... and Daimu... but, as she kept reminding herself and as Koshi kept warning her against, she was going to see them again! Very soon!

Her happy thoughts were quickly interrupted by a painful yank on her left pigtail. What?

"Shut up or die," snarled a voice next to her ear. Mikan squeaked, shouting for Koshi in her head.

"Don't bother about your daemon, kid," said a female voice next to her other ear. The grip on her pigtail sharpened, and Mikan felt herself somehow be spun round and pinned down on the sofa, staring up at a now fully-awake Natsume. Kicking and struggling with all her might, she caught a glance of her black-bear-formed Koshi in the grip of a much larger and scarier-looking polar bear, which had presumably been a ferret asleep around Natsume's neck a few seconds ago.

"What the he-"

"I said, shut up!" spat Natsume. Mikan stopped struggling for a moment, quickly tiring, before putting all her effort into freeing her arms. Natsume easily suppressed it. She felt Koshi's confusion as he tried to change into a smaller form to get out of the other daemon's deathgrip, but her claws threatened to slash him if he moved even as much as an inch.

"Ge-"

"What's your name?" Natsume snarled.

Mikan screwed up her eyes.

"I said, what's your name?! Tell me or I'll burn you! I mean it!" He held up a hand, seemingly about to punch her - Mikan closed her eyes again and attempted a roll off the sofa. Nothing hard met her face, and neither had she managed to get anywhere, so she opened her eyes again. Nothing had happened except that Natsume looked, if possible, even more angry and then something smashed the window.

Natsume looked up. Mikan twisted round so she could see too, but the back of the sofa was in the way - "It's a blonde boy, rabbit daemon," said Koshi. The other bear seemed to sense the mental dialogue, and growled deep in her throat.

"You're late," said Natsume.

"Sorry!" said a new voice - the blonde boy, Mikan thought. "There wasn't any time - I think Misaki-sensei saw me!"

"Whatever," growled Natsume. "I got taken out by Naru, and then I woke up with this girl next to me. She's going to tell me her name or I'm going to burn her, understood?" he said, the last sentence directed at Mikan.

"Natsu-" started the other boy.

There was yet another crash as the door slammed open again, knocking over the same table - and then Natsume was knocked off her, the polar bear flowing to his shoulder as a black cat. She turned and snarled at the newcomers before holding up a paw, a piece of cloth and pattern that looked much too familiar dangling off a claw, and saying, "Missing something?"

A glimpse of the other boy as they both jumped through the broken window and ran.

Mikan could feel a fit coming on.

xox

"HOW DID HE DO THAT?! AND WHY?! NOW NO-ONE WILL EVER WANT ME! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! RAPIST! MOLESTER! I HATE HIM I HATE HIM I HATE HIM!" She paused to take a tear-filled breath, blew her nose on a tissue Narumi handed her, and started up again, "I HATE HIM! AND THAT OTHER BOY I DIDN'T EVEN SEE BUT WAS SOMEHOW FRIENDS WITH THAT CREEP AND HELPED HIM ESCAPE AND WHY?! HE'S A DISGUSTING RAPIST WHO STEALS INNOCENT GIRLS' UNDERWEAR AND I HATE HIM!"

Koshi licked her hand, noticing that the two teachers and their daemons behind her were exchanging various looks and quiet sentences such like, "I never knew Natsume had such a great talent..." and "How long is this going to take?"

"I HATE HIM!" She gave one last sniffle before throwing her head into her hands and slumping onto the table. No-one disturbed her for some time.

"Good news," a voice said gently. She looked up at Narumi beside her. He held up a uniform. "You've been accepted as a pupil; you're going to see your friend after all!"

Mikan sat up. "Really? What, really really? I'm going to see Hotaru again?!" And just like that, her mood had been changed. Koshi licked her hand, beagle-formed.

"Really," said Narumi. "Now, let's get you cleaned up and changed into your new uniform."

xox

Mikan stared at her reflection, not quite believing her eyes. She was really here! A student at Alice Academy... with an Alice!

"Which we don't actually know," said Koshi.

"But we're going to find out. So there." She stuck her tongue out at him. He gave a doggy grin, and settled on her shoulder as a butterfly. "Get out there."

She came out of the dressing room smiling, and Narumi beamed as she did so. "Now you're a real member of this school!" She laughed as he picked her up and swung her round just like Hotaru's dad used to do, and Koshi fluttered happily around them.

"So... what's my Alice? And when can I see Hotaru?"

"You need to figure out your Alice by yourself," said Narumi. Mikan thought she saw Misaki exchange a tired look with Narumi's lovebird-daemon, but she wasn't concentrating on that. "But if your Hotaru's the same person that I think she is, then you're going to see her quite soon."

And quite soon it was - he had just finished that sentence when there was a knock on the door. A boy and girl around the same age as Mikan walked in, one of them strangely unfamiliar in her uniform but the same person nonetheless...

"HOTARU!!" Mikan shouted as she hurtled towards the girl. She didn't notice Hotaru backing away, a look on her face that meant 'No, why did she come?' on her face. "Hotaru, I want to hug you! I've missed you so much, I can't believe I'm seeing you again, Hotaru I love you!"

There was a pause, Hotaru holding Mikan at an arm's length, and then - "Wonderful," she said, icily. A firefly danced around her head, blinking its encrypted messages.

xox

_A/N: A few things about daemons. They're a crossover with 'His Dark Materials' by Philip Pullman, a series which I highly recommend you read. Daemons are basically your conscience or 'little voice in your head' that takes a physical animal form, strongly bound to their human. A child's daemon can change shape, but as their personality settles, the daemon's form becomes fixed into one that best represents that person - so Narumi's personality is like a lovebird, etc. To touch another person's daemon is taboo unless you're __extremely close to them (much like sex) - talking to another's daemon isn't quite so intimate, but still only reserved for close friends. (Usually. Natsume's daemon doesn't care so much for social restraints, which is why she isn't bothered about talking to Mikan directly.)  
_

_As for where this story is going, yes, this first chapter is almost exactly the same as the first two chapters of the manga. I think I'm going to change the storyline drastically from the next chapter, though. This feels a bit rushed. Oh well.  
_


	2. Chapter 2: Hotaru

_I thought about writing something for the New Year, but then I went to Hungary and so I didn't. Also, happy birthday to me for last week - I'm now legally an adult. Obviously I will take advantage of this as soon as possible and so I will be married next Monday. (Note: I am joking.)_

_Anyway, I'm not very happy with this chapter, but it's been sitting in my docs for the last two months, so I thought I might as well finish it off and post it._

**Chapter Two - Hotaru**

XXX

How could this be happening? This was not how things were meant to be. This was not how things _should_ be - not even Hotaru, the genius of the Elementary Division, had foreseen this. No, she hadn't even thought about it. Mikan, cute and bouncy and useless Mikan, how could she be here? And _why_?

"Shut up," said Daimu silently. "You know exactly why she's here."

_Mikan..._

It was ironic, stupid, idiotic, that Mikan should have come here on her own when Hotaru had tried so hard to escape. So stupid - she had no idea where she was, what she was getting into, what the Academy really was... and she expected Hotaru to be happy to see her!

All this flashed through her mind as Mikan ran towards her, arms outstretched. Hotaru couldn't do it; she couldn't bear this stupidity, this naivety. She held her back, and hissed a warning. Mikan looked up, tears already forming in her eyes.

This couldn't be happening.

XXX

What an idiot, thought Hotaru. Typical of her to rush in and be trapped without even realising - without even knowing why. Mikan didn't even know what her own Alice was. To be fair, Hotaru had no clue either, and she wondered how Narumi could have known. As far as she knew, Narumi didn't own any special Alice-sensing equipment.

Hotaru was too shocked and angry to say much on the way to the Elementary Division. Yuu sat next to her with his usual expression of flustered friendliness, though Hotaru's mind was in too much turmoil to notice what he and Sorona were saying to Mikan, or what the teachers were arguing about in low voices in the front of the car. Daimu Karisma flew around her head in agitated ever-changing patterns and circuits - Hotaru wasn't one to let her emotions show on her face, but she couldn't control how her daemon reacted.

Now what?

"Talk to her," said her firefly-daemon in her head. "She did this for you. And comfort her about her lost underwear."

"Without knowing what the consequences were," she thought-spoke back to him. "She needs to go. What was that last sentence?"

"She can't. Now she's a real student here, isn't she? And weren't you listening to her tantrum about Natsume and Luca's business with her panties?"

Hotaru closed her eyes - her daemon landed on her hand, beetle-formed. "No. Thankfully."

She felt a nudge at her shoulder and opened her eyes to see Yuu's worried eyes and Sorona cleaning her mouse's face nervously. They were at the Elementary Division building.

"Hotaru! Can you show me around please? I can't believe we're going to the same school again!" squealed Mikan, taking her hand. The beetle jumped off and landed on Koshi, currently a beagle at Mikan's heels. "I've missed you so much... wait no, I already said that. And Kari too!"

"Yes," Hotaru said, or rather, grunted. She didn't really feel ready to face up to Mikan's eternal cheerfulness. "This year, I'm running for the Best Student award for our class, which means no disruption and no attention on me. Now, you're just going to ruin all that if you keep hanging around me, so I don't want you to talk to me, be with me or otherwise even _notice_ me. Do you understand?" She heard Daimu sighing, and could imagine his disapproving lecture before she heard it.

Mikan stopped. "I can't talk to you?" she said in that annoyingly innocent and confused tone. Hotaru shook her head both in reply to that question and to make Daimu stop talking.

"Hotaru... you're so mean!"

"Talk to me after the award ceremony," she replied, before opening the classroom door. She could see Narumi shrugging in the background, and Daimu said, "They've been betting on whether or not you're actually friends. It might be a good idea to show the correct answer..."

"Who bet on that one?"

"Naru."

"Which is a good enough reason not to." Daimu snorted quietly in amusement as she sat down at her usual desk. "I don't want to see her. How could she have been so stupid?"

Her daemon didn't reply. Then- "Look. Trouble."

"I won't look. Tell me yourself."

She could hear it well enough though; Sumire doing her usual new-pupil-interrogation, and Mikan of course knowing nothing about how to deal with it. Oh, and even Koko had got roped in...

"_I don't even know if I have an Alice_," said Koko. Sumire, as Hotaru predicted, gasped in outrage and Daimu's firefly eyes told her that she was coming dangerously close to an explosion. It wouldn't usually have mattered to Hotaru, but Mikan was stupidly under-prepared for these sort of events. On the other hand, actually getting herself involved in this mess was not something that Hotaru wanted to do either.

"Oh. My. God. What the hell do you mean, you don't even know that you're a Alice? Why are you even in this school, freak? Did you trick Narumi or something?" Sumire's boarhound-formed daemon growled - Hotaru turned her head just enough to see Koshi step back, looking at Mikan with uncertainty.

"No!" cried Mikan, picking her terrier daemon up and waving her other hand around in some kind of innocence gesture. "I swear, I didn't trick him! I just... don't know why he wanted me here either!"

"She's an idiot," said Sumire scornfully. "Koko, is she really telling the truth?"

He nodded.

"Then... I don't believe this. This is a complete disgrace to this class, this school, all of us! How dare you just walk in here and pretend to one of us, you... urggh!" she finished in frustration. "Natsume-sama, what do you think?" she added suddenly, looking up with bright eyes at the door.

"I think you need to help her," said Daimu at Hotaru's shoulder. "Now that the big bad underwear-stealing boys are here... and this is just a small distraction in the big scheme of Sumire's acid-attack!"

"Later," said Hotaru shortly.

"Hey, polka-dots," - she could hear the mix of irritation and smugness in Natsume's voice much too clearly. There wasn't much time to reflect on that, though, because-

"AIIIEEEEEEEEE!!! Why is this JERK here?!" screamed Mikan. Koshi became a porcupine, and Natsume's cat-daemon ran into Hotaru's peripheral vision as she sat herself down in front of the porcupine and bared her teeth with a nasal cat-laugh. Natsume must have said something to her, because she ran back out almost immediately, presumably to accompany him to his usual deskplace. Huh. That was interesting - though Hotaru didn't know why. Mikan was still shouting something about molesters and child protection acts while the rest of the class watched in stunned silence. It only took a few small words from Natsume to set them back.

"As if anyone would want to molest _you_."

Not particularly witty, and definitely not a comeback to be proud of - but it had the desired effect.

"I HATE YOU!!" Mikan screamed. "AND YOUR STUPID DAEMON AND SO-CALLED _SPECIAL_ ALICE SCHOOL TOO!!" (Really, it was admirable that she hadn't permanently destroyed her vocal chords. At least, not as far as Hotaru knew.)

"HOW DARE YOU!" Sumire screamed at a volume that completely overpowered even Mikan's anger. Hotaru put her newly invented Deaf-Bat Earplugs in her ears. "First, you sneak in here like some despicable thief, trying to get into our elite academy! Then, you insult Natsume-sama, the most important member of our class! What gives you, a freaking FAKE Alice, the right to even LOOK at him?!"

"I'll punch her if you want," said Mochu.

Sumire huffed, obviously making a trade-off in her head about the state of her hair and nails against the pleasure of slapping Mikan halfway across Japan. "Fine! Good! Get her!"

"What gives YOU the right to call yourself 'elite' anyway?" yelled Mikan before Mochu or his dog-daemon could take a step forward. "You're just a snobby girl the same age as me! Does being an Alice really make you like this? Because then I really WOULDN'T like to be like you!"

"Do I really have to answer that?" said Sumire, disgust dripping like some kind of bitter honey from her voice. "You don't even know what an Alice _is_. Didn't Narumi explain? Or are you too stupid to remember? Ordinary people are just useless drones when it comes to the work that we Alices do."

There was a silence. Sumire's daemon turned into a seagull and alighted on her shoulder while they waited for Mikan's reaction.

Hotaru didn't expect what came next. Then again, Mikan seemed to have the knack for surprising her, given the events of the last half hour or so. "... Hotaru doesn't think so! I bet she doesn't! She can't think like that... what about our other friends? Her parents? She's _my_ best friend!"

"She's _your_ best friend," said Daimu in their private conversation. Hotaru remained motionless.

"Hotaru?"

"See!" said Sumire triumphantly. "Now, since you obviously can't show us proof of you being an Alice or even knowing what an Alice _is_, you'd better get out of our school right now, huh?"

"So what if Narumi didn't tell me what my Alice was?" said Mikan angrily. "At least I know how to be a decent _human being_!"

"You little pi-" started Sumire, but Mochu's German Shepherd had already sprung forwards to bark and snap at Koshi. Mikan yelped, but neither she or her daemon were really of the fighting type and Koshi seemed frozen in place. It was only a matter of time before Mochu or Sumire punched Mikan herself... how far was enough? Her conscience, Daimu Karisma, was pressing her to finish this.

"Get off her," said Hotaru suddenly. She stood up - the spectators of the battle around her looked up in surprise. There was a satisfying 'whump' as the air gun in her hand blew Sumire off her feet, causing Mochu to pause mid-way through throwing the first hit. Daimu instantly became a black scorpion, sting pressed against the front leg off Mochu's dog-daemon.

"Hotaru?!" gasped Sumire. "What do you think you're _doing_?!"

"It's just like she said - I'm her best friend. I'm the only person allowed to knock her out." She paused a moment to savour the shock on Sumire and Mochu's faces before turning to Mikan, sprawled on the ground. "As for you, I told you not to draw attention to yourself, didn't I?"

Mikan squealed and hugged Hotaru's feet. "Hotaru I love you!" Koshi wagged his tail and sniffed at Daimu, who was back to his usual firefly form and flashing his light around Mikan's face.

Hotaru patiently endured this treatment. "You realise that you do need to pay me back for the Student Award that I've just forfeited. A month of free meals in the town should suffice." Mikan didn't care - she shook her head and continued to squeeze Hotaru's legs.

XXX

The next few days passed, and Hotaru barely noticed - contrary to first impressions, Hotaru had indeed missed Mikan (at least _a little_) during their year-long separation. Not that she would ever let it show, of course, but Daimu's buzzing around Koshi's head was enough evidence of the fact. Yuu and his daemon Sorona seemed always to be slightly embarrassed when they accompanied Mikan and herself on various school journeys and events - perhaps Yuu had a crush on Mikan? Hotaru was intrigued, but her morals demanded that she treat Yuu with respect; after all, he _was_ her friend.

Others, however, weren't so lucky.

Mikan's first impression of Luca Nogi had not been a very promising one. Hotaru, based on some rumours and spy-fly photos that had been circulating around particular places, had been planning a scoop on Luca for some time - and now was as good a time as any. So it was with some excitement (it was hard to tell if Hotaru was excited, bored or simply emotionless at any one time, but her daemon sometimes let things slip) that Hotaru asked Yuu and Mikan to accompany her to the North Woods to see Piyo the Mutant Chick - and, perhaps, Luca Nogi with his full-blown Alice power.

"What is my Alice, anyway?" said Mikan as they trudged up the hill. "Hotaru, you're clever, and Yuu, you're the class president - can't you guess or something?"

"For Narumi to be certain so quickly, it must be something very obvious," replied Hotaru. Koshi - a beagle at the moment - looked up hopefully, panting. "But I don't know. The sooner that idiot comes back to teach his homeroom class, the better." Hotaru did have some guesses of her own, but nothing that she was completely certain of. She didn't voice any of them.

"Maybe it's something that only affects adults," suggested Yuu. Sorona squeaked - she was riding Koshi's back as a mouse, and Hotaru felt a rush of warmth that her two friends had become so close so soon.

"Hmm," said Mikan. "I wish I had a really cool and obvious power like you guys! I can't imagine being able to give people illusions... or make giraffe cars... or something... hey, what Alices do the rest of our class have?"

Hotaru had the feeling that she had given this talk to Mikan before, but the girl seemed to forget things at an abnormally fast speed. She went through the list with the help of Yuu again, pausing whenever Mikan screwed up her eyes in concentration - "... and no-one knows Sumire's Alice, or if they do, she makes them keep it quiet," finished Yuu. "Hotaru, are we almost there?"

"If you can see him - say hello to Piyo," she said dryly. Above them, the so-called Piyo looked down with interest. No, we don't have any food, she thought silently.

"He looks even bigger than before," commented Daimu in her head. "But what about Luca?"

"So why did we come here?" said Yuu. Mikan couldn't speak - her mouth was wide open and she looked as if she was going to faint.

"That... thing... is... who?!"

"Piyo the Giant Mutant Chick," replied Hotaru. "You were warned."

"When you said giant mutant chick, I thought you meant... something like _this_!" She gestured wildly with her hands at something about the size of a watermelon. "Not a fluffy yellow version of Mount Everest!!"

"He's quite sweet really," said Hotaru. "Or so I heard."

"He's going to EAT US!" shouted Mikan, windmilling her arms in panic and almost tripping over Koshi. "Yuu, do something!"

"Don't do it, Iincho," said Hotaru calmly. "The main aim of coming here was so I could get some good pictures of Luca Nogi-"

"You mean that other jerk who's not Natsume who MOLESTED ME?!"

Hotaru nodded. She could see Yuu with Sorona squeaking in his pocket nervously edging away from them. "This is the plan - no-one's ever seen him use his Alice properly. I'm betting it's because he thinks it's embarrassing. So, we stay here until he comes to play with Piyo - and I know he will come, because of the data gathered from my spies - and then I take some good-quality photos to share with the class." She didn't mention the blackmailing part of the plan.

"Ah... right," said Yuu. "As class president, I think I should step in to stop this..."

"Don't worry, Iincho, I won't hurt him," said Hotaru. Daimu blinked in agreement.

"I hate those jerks," muttered Mikan. She slumped down on the ground, and her daemon flopped on top of her, wagging his tail. "When's he gonna come then?"

"Soon."

"Soon as in, five minutes or five hours? Last week you made me wait for two hours because you were going to supper 'soon'..."

"Five minutes," said Hotaru. Judging from the videos that her spyfly had transmitted this week, it looked as if Luca's four o'clock stopover at Piyo's nest was a regular event.

Five minutes, of course, was too much for Mikan. "I'm bored," she whined after exactly two minutes. Koshi woofed. It looked as if she had forgotten about Piyo for now. Hopefully she wouldn't look behind herself.

"That's not my fault," said Hotaru. "Go and play fetch - or something."

"Hey!" Looking offended, Mikan turned to Yuu. "... _Can_ we play fetch?"

Hotaru didn't bother to watch. Luca should have been here at any moment, but Hotaru hadn't noticed any of the usual signs of his impending arrival (a loud chatter of excited birds, groups of raccoons and mice running through the forest, etc). Perhaps he had decided not to come today?

Ten minutes passed. Still no sign of Luca. (Though, she thought, perhaps it was because of the two crashing around in the undergrowth trying to find the frisbee. Daimu gave her a firefly-shrug.)

"Mikan, Yuu," called Hotaru. "I'm going."

"What?" said Mikan, looking up, starting, and then giving a small wave to Piyo. Her daemon shook his way out of the bushes and looked up too.

"I'm going," she repeated. "Something's wrong."

Yuu also turned round at this, looking confused. "What is it?"

"Luca's not here yet. He's never been more than a minute late before." Daimu flew in circles around her head, clearly urging her to go now and check, or at least view the recorded camera video of this afternoon in her lab. Hotaru herself wasn't completely sure why he was so concerned, but she trusted his instincts. "We should check."

"Well... maybe he just decided not to come today? He might have seen us," said Yuu, scratching his head. "I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about."

"I guess we were really loud..." said Mikan apologetically.

"We would have seen something," said Hotaru, mentally asking her daemon what he was thinking. His reply of, _I don't know, but this isn't right_, did nothing to resolve the situation,

"Oh well," Mikan said. "Maybe he'll come tomorrow then?"

Koshi woofed an agreement, but glanced at Daimu as he did – he had sensed the other daemon's anxiety, even if his human hadn't.

Really, thought Hotaru, if this did turn out to be a _something_ rather than a _nothing_, then that would be an awful lot of drama for Mikan's first week at school. And knowing the things that Natsume got into, Hotaru wouldn't be surprised if this small Luca event really was the beginning of something too big to imagine. Hopefully Mikan wouldn't get involved – _but you know she will_, said Daimu, half joking and half sombre. _She'll always be in the drama_.

TBC

_A/N again: Hotaru's daemon is fancy and has a double name, Daimu Karisma (presumably spelt in Japanese as Karisuma or something) because he felt like it. Yeah. It sounds like a girl's name, but so what. And Yuu's daemon is just called Sorona and doesn't do very much, and I did have names for Sumire's and Mochu's when I planned this fic last summer, but I've forgotten them now._


End file.
